Founded in 1895 by Mary Sheerer, Newcomb Pottery was an educational and commercial venture associated with Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, the women’s branch of Tulane University in New Orleans. Sheerer, who also became director of the pottery,declared that “the whole thing was to be a southern product, made of southern clays, by southern artists, decorated with southern subjects.” Like other potteries during this period, Newcomb employed men to throw pots and women to decorate them. This vase, with its distinctive moonlit scene, was thrown by Joseph Fortuné Meyer and decorated by Sadie Irvine, considered one of Newcomb’s most outstanding artists. The design was first drawn onto the partially dry body, then areas were carved and scraped away leaving the foreground raised in low relief.
Signed on bottom: 14 (?) / JM37 / NC (intertwined) / S
Mary Morton Parsons Fund for American Decorative Arts
“Newcomb College Pottery, A Retrospective,” Jordan-Volpe Gallery, New York, 13 April – 15 May 1984
©artist or artist’s estate
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